Baseball

Kondra's Eighth Inning Single Keeps Panthers Alive

May 01, 2010

Kondra's Eighth Inning Single Keeps Panthers
Alive

#4 Old Westbury - 7, #2 St. Joseph's - 5

Farmingdale, N.Y. - A single down the right
field line by junior outfielder Jason Kondra (East Syracuse,
N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) scored the game-winning run in the eighth
inning as the Panthers took a 7-5 victory over St. Joseph's in a
third round elimination game of the 2010 Skyline Baseball Playoffs.
Senior right hander Bobby Hugli (New Hyde Park, N.Y./New Hyde Park)
went 4.1 innings for the win, allowing just one hit to improve to
3-1 on the season. The Panthers now face #3 Mount Saint Mary at
7:45 p.m. with the winner advancing to tomorrow's Championship game
against #1 Farmingdale State at Noon.

Old Westbury opened the scoring in the third inning when junior
rightfielder Ali Ferreiras (Bronx, N.Y./Alfred E. Smith) scored on
a passed ball. Junior shortstop Melvin Simmons (Bronx, N.Y./Alfred
E. Smith) singled to right field to score freshman catcher Euris
Turbi (Brooklyn, N.Y./Telecommunications) from third and take a 2-0
lead after three. In the fourth, junior third baseman Edwin Pena
(Brooklyn, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) scored on a wild pitch and the
Panthers made it 3-0.

St. Joseph's struck back with a five run fifth inning on two
hits and two throwing errors to take a 5-3 lead. Junior catcher
Paul Marino (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) scored from second on an
error. Senior second baseman Mike Gerdes (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur)
reached on a fielder's choice as senior first baseman Mark Cisek
(Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) scored and sophomore leftfielder Dennis
Nover (Fresh Meadows, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) came around from
second to score on the throw to home. The final two runs of the
inning were scored on an overthrown ball at first, as Gerdes and
sophomore rightfielder Prateek Thaman (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge)
came home.

Old Westbury tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a two
RBI single to center field, which scored Pena and junior designated
hitter Josef Schaetzle (Bellmore, N.Y./Chaminade) to make it a 5-5
game. After a scoreless seventh inning, the Panthers added the
game-winning runs on Kondra's single to right in the eighth, while
a throwing error would allow another run to come in for a 7-5 Old
Westbury advantage.

A 1-2-3 ninth inning for St. Joe's in the top of the ninth gave
the Panthers the victory and eliminated St. Joseph's from the
Tournament.

For St. Joseph's, sophomore Jason Dierkes (Mount Sinai,
N.Y./Mount Sinai) went six innings, allowing three earned run and
six hits with one strikeout and one walk. Junior Joe Benkert
(Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) went two innings in the loss,
allowing one earned run on three hits.